June 17, 2022
We have some important information to share about the next monthly meeting, updates about the certification process, a reminder to take the bargaining survey, and exciting news about the UW Researchers United-UAW campaign. Please see below for more details!
Monthly Meeting: Save the Date
Mark your calendars because our June Monthly Meeting will take place on Wednesday, June 29th at 6:00pm over Zoom. We will have updates about the filing process, talk more about the bargaining survey, and work on planning for more organizing so that we can reach more folks across the WSU system and strengthen our mandate. If you will be able to make it, register here. See you there!
Certification Update
Since our last update there has been some movement on the certification process for our union. WSU Labor Relations (LR) has provided a list to PERC (state labor board) of employees they believe should be in our bargaining unit (per the unit description in our petition). However the list only includes 88 people. WSU LR stated that this is due to many people not working during summer term (unfortunately PERC did not request the list from WSU LR until 5/16, even though we filed on 5/4); however it’s unclear whether the list is accurate as several appointees are not on the list. LR also stated that the list does not include approximately 750 Research Assistants because they are reviewing whether we provide a service to the University.
To keep the process moving, PERC has verified that at least 30% of the list provided have signed authorization cards, which is a necessary early step. PERC has also asked LR to provide more detail about their list as well as to state more clearly whether they have any objections to the petition. After any objections are raised and resolved, PERC will request a new list from WSU and can then certify the bargaining unit based on either cross-checking that a majority of individuals have signed cards or ordering a separate vote. To ensure that this is inclusive of new ASEs starting in the Fall, we’d expect that a cross-check or vote would happen then.
As we mentioned in our last update, WSU Administration appears to be moving toward taking a position that Research Assistants don’t provide a service to the University and therefore should be excluded from the union. We will strenuously advocate against this through the PERC process, but if they formally take this position, we may need to take additional action to ensure that (1) this position does not prevail at PERC and (2) this position does not unduly delay the process of becoming certified. More information will be provided as we continue to learn more!
Also, administration and departments at WSU have started to post notices and a copy of our petition both physically and through email. As such, you may see notices about union certification as each department begins to post this information. This is good news as it is a reminder of our right to unionize and what employers can and cannot do while we go through the certification process! Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.
Take the Bargaining Survey!
WSU CASE is an organization by and for us, the Academic Student Employees of Washington State University. As such, it’s mission is to represent us and to advocate for the policy changes we want. In order to do this, we need to know what people’s priorities are. Even though actual bargaining is a little ways off, we are starting to collect and collate this information through a bargaining survey. Take it today and share what matters to you and what you want out of your union!
Researchers at UW Voted to Form a Union
Exciting news: By an 85% margin, Staff Research Scientists at the University of Washington voted YES to formalize their union, UW Researchers United-UAW. They are only the second group of academic researchers to form their own bargaining unit in the U.S., and the first to be certified by representation election with 63% voter turnout! Aside from being huge news for the academic labor movement in Washington, it’s instructive for us as their University administration had tried to slow the process through hundreds of challenges during the certification process. It was only through strong majority participation that the Research Scientists overcame these objections to win certification. They will be joining Academic Student Employees and Postdocs at UAW Local 4121 as a separate bargaining unit.
In solidarity,
Aurora Brinkman, Psychology (Pullman)
Priyanka Bushana, Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience (Spokane)
Furkan Cakmak, Political Science (Pullman)
Sarah Fakhoury, Computer Science (Pullman)
Carla De Lira, Computer Science (Pullman)
Danielle Holt, School of the Environment (Pullman)
Aaron Jesch, History (Vancouver)
Kelsey King, School of Biological Sciences (Vancouver)
Kathryn Manis, English (Pullman)
Daniel McCloskey, Anthropology (Pullman)
Emma McMain, Educational Psychology (Pullman)
Kyle Rakowski, Sociology (Pullman)
Sadie Ridgeway, Sociology (Pullman)
Claudia Skinner, Languages, Cultures and Race (Pullman)
Kartik Sreedhar, Physics and Astronomy (Pullman)